First a little about me. Recreation rider 35years old 5'7" 138-140lbs. Male. No racing (yet?). Just finished my first season cycling. I stack up well against the long time riders I hang with at my work.
So I've got two goal over the winter. 1). To increase my maximum and sustainable power outputs, and 2) Decrease my weight. I've got access to spinning bikes at my work. So far this winter, I've be working on the power thing. I'm pretty slender already, so the weight thing hasn't really been and issue. But I know I'd be better minus 5-10 lbs. When I work for power, I'm generally in the anaerobic zone, which isn't great for dropping the few extra pounds of fat I've got on me. For fat burning I know that long and slow is the way to go (that just doesn't fit my personality very well :-) )
So am I going about this the wrong way ? Should I try to drop the lbs first and then work on power ? Does it matter ? Any and all advice appreciated !
BTW this site is such a great resource for me. The knowledge base here is great.
First a little about me. Recreation rider 35years old 5'7" 138-140lbs. Male. No racing (yet?). Just finished my first season cycling. I stack up well against the long time riders I hang with at my work.
So I've got two goal over the winter. 1). To increase my maximum and sustainable power outputs, and 2) Decrease my weight. I've got access to spinning bikes at my work. So far this winter, I've be working on the power thing. I'm pretty slender already, so the weight thing hasn't really been and issue. But I know I'd be better minus 5-10 lbs. When I work for power, I'm generally in the anaerobic zone, which isn't great for dropping the few extra pounds of fat I've got on me. For fat burning I know that long and slow is the way to go (that just doesn't fit my personality very well :-) )
So am I going about this the wrong way ? Should I try to drop the lbs first and then work on power ? Does it matter ? Any and all advice appreciated !
BTW this site is such a great resource for me. The knowledge base here is great.
Thanks in advance! Lonnie
PS What are your winter training goals ?
If you went thru a season of riding hard it would be a good to go easy a few months. your body needs the rest so you can improve. also you burn the most calories by doing high intensity. im also 5' 7" 143 lbs my race weight is 140, anything under that and my performance drops. so make sure you monitor your power output when you drop the weight. my training goal for winter is to maintain my base, and get a stronger core abs, back, ect.
I second zaskar's advice. You need to have some intense workouts, but most cyclists use winter for easier base training at a lower intensity. The object is to allow your body to rest while also working on aerobic conditioning. If you are too intense all the time, you will burn out. Mix up your workouts. As for the weight, that little should come off fairly easily. I wouldn't even think that much about it, but make small changes in intake or output, and it will fall off. Doing it slow will help you maintain your power output. Keep riding and good luck.
First a little about me. Recreation rider 35years old 5'7" 138-140lbs. Male. No racing (yet?). Just finished my first season cycling. I stack up well against the long time riders I hang with at my work.
So I've got two goal over the winter. 1). To increase my maximum and sustainable power outputs, and 2) Decrease my weight. I've got access to spinning bikes at my work. So far this winter, I've be working on the power thing. I'm pretty slender already, so the weight thing hasn't really been and issue. But I know I'd be better minus 5-10 lbs. When I work for power, I'm generally in the anaerobic zone, which isn't great for dropping the few extra pounds of fat I've got on me. For fat burning I know that long and slow is the way to go (that just doesn't fit my personality very well :-) )
So am I going about this the wrong way ? Should I try to drop the lbs first and then work on power ? Does it matter ? Any and all advice appreciated !
BTW this site is such a great resource for me. The knowledge base here is great.
Thanks in advance! Lonnie
PS What are your winter training goals ?
My first question to you would be why are you working on your short term power right now: IOW - are you working on your weakness; it is part of a long term plan; are you preparing for specific cycle racing events; or is it just because you like it? Whether or not your are "going about this the wrong way" completely depends on why you are trying to increase your top end power output. As for droping weight/fat, riding "long and slow" (although a very relative phrase) isn't really the best way to go. From a purely weight loss perspective, a medium/moderate intensity gives you the highest calorie/hour rate of energy expenditure that is also not so hard that you can't maintain it for extended durations (eg: 1-2+hrs). This is an excellent way to go for someone who doesn't like "long and slow"; it's hard enough that you feel like you're being productive, yet it's a level at which you can train 2-4x/wk w/o overtraining and really devour the calories. If you bring cycling performance into the picture, then you have to go back to my point earlier about what your long term goals are and factor that in.
Thanks for replying. I'm working on this because 1). I do feel it's a "weakness" and 2). I like the intensity. I'm not really racing so I have no specific goals there. I enjoy climbing on my bike and I'm would like to become better at it. To me these are the logical things to work on to improve this particular skill. I've always been smaller and this has always been a bit of a disadvantage in sports. I always made up for it with determination and intensity. In cycling I can use my smaller size to my advantage (even if it's just for "fun". (Is it ever?)). I have specific "goals" in long hard rides I want to do next year but that's about it.
So based on your comments I feel fairly good about what I'm doing. My workouts on the trainer are good cross training for Alpine skiing, which is my other hobby.
my winter goal is just to get in a lot of base miles. right now the only rides i do are 3-4 hours, 4 times a week. its too much hassle to get prepared for any ride that is less than 2 hours, at this time of year. luckily my schedule of school and work allow me to get in 4 hour rides 4 times a week. i have an extra few lbs of fat i would like to get rid of, but it seems impossible. i also do weights to increase my pure strength for sprinting.
